


First Halloween

by Just_Will



Category: Naruto
Genre: Because these two deserve more bonding times together, Dad Iruka, Domestic, Family Bonding, Fluff, Pumpkin carving, Sumigakure Halloween Event 2017, Tumblr Prompt, adopted naruto, prompt 11
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-26 04:22:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12548748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_Will/pseuds/Just_Will
Summary: New dad Iruka with his newly adopted son Naruto set down to carve pumpkins for their first Halloween together.





	First Halloween

**Author's Note:**

> Just fluff for the Hidden Ink Village's Halloween event and because there can never be enough of Naruto and Iruka bonding together.

Setting down the last of the newspapers on the floor Iruka smiled and started to get the things he was going to need to carve pumpkins for his adopted son’s first Halloween with him.

“Iruka, Iruka!”  A small voice called out from the family room of their small home, “Is everything ready?!”

“Yes, Naruto,” Iruka answered fondly as he placed the pumpkins he’d acquired on the newspapers, “Are you done hanging up the decorations?”

“Yep!”  The small seven year old bounced into the kitchen, “I hung spider webs all over the windows, taped some plastic bats above the door and a bunch of spiders along the sides and it looks really good!”

“That’s great, now are you ready to carve these pumpkins?”  Iruka smiled at the enthusiastic nod his son gave him and motioned for him to sit on the ground, “Well alright then, let’s sit down and I’ll show you how to go about doing things!”

They both sat down and Iruka went about showing Naruto how to go about making Jack-o-lanterns.  Being the adult he took the first step of cutting out the tops of both pumpkins and then explained that they had to scoop out all the stuff inside.

“Eww…!”  Naruto stuck out his tongue in disgust at the slimy stringy innards of the pumpkin, “What is this junk?”

“It’s the part of the pumpkin that you eat actually. The outside is too hard but the stuff inside is what you make pies and stuff out of.  These pumpkins might be too big now for that though, but at the very least the seeds we’re pulling out can be baked and made into a snack.”

Naruto nodded absently to that and scooped out the innards of his pumpkin while Iruka did the same.

The man couldn’t believe that after all his hard work and effort he was finally a parent, a father, and to a small child that reminded him so much of himself as a young boy.

Growing up as an orphan himself Iruka knew what it was like to be separated from people who had families, always looking in at the love and warmth he craved.  Once he became of age and left the orphanage he knew that he would one day be back to adopt a child, he hated how he had always been alone and he wanted to one day make a difference in a child’s life like that so they didn’t have to suffer like he had.

Now years later after saving his earnings and building up a life for himself he sat with his son.  He felt he couldn’t say that to himself enough and even now a week after coming home with him it still hadn’t worn off.  His son.

Naruto was rambunctious and mischievous but kind and sweet when he opened up to a person.  It was honestly something he hadn’t expected the first time he saw him but Iruka noticed after several visits with the head of the orphanage that he was more than he let on.  So after everything was set it was no surprise to the man when the obvious choice was this sunny child to take home and build a family with.

“Okay so we got all the pumpkin meat out and the seeds,” Iruka looked at the bowl he had set out now filled over the brim with it all, “Now we need to trace a design on it so we can cut out pieces for the light to shine through.”

“OH!  I found a good one!”  Naruto jumped up and ran out of the kitchen before Iruka could pull out the book of designs he had gotten for this and wondered what it was Naruto had found.

“HERE!”  Naruto came back with a piece of printer paper in his hands and thrust it out for Iruka to see.

It was an image of an animal face of some kind that had jagged fur, pointy ears, and sharp eyes and teeth.  It was hard to tell what exactly it was but after looking it over for a moment he let his eyes bulge out in surprise.

“A kitsune?”

“YEAH!”  Naruto bounced looking excited, “I was looking up ideas on the computer and I wanted to see if they had any fox ones and I found this!  It looks super scary and not so hard so I thought I could try to do it!”

Iruka looked it over again, studying the image and thinking on it.  It looked like it required only a few large pieces of pumpkin to be removed which would be easy enough, but the thin eyes and mouth might pose some problems for Naruto to do on his own.

“It looks doable for the most part, not very hard, but I think the mouth and eyes might be a bit hard to do on your own so I think you’ll need to let me do that for you.  That ok?”

Naruto nodded excitedly and Iruka couldn’t help the fond smile that crossed his face, “Alright then I’ll tape this onto your pumpkin and then you can get started.”

It took almost no effort for the picture to be pinned onto Naruto’s little pumpkin and after showing him how to go about using the small carving knife he let the boy go to work while he started in on his own.  It was quiet work and Iruka enjoyed it, this was their first holiday together and it was nice to finally have a reason to celebrate, decorate, and enjoy all the silly customs that came with this holiday and the ones to follow.

“Hey, Iruka?”  The man turned to look at Naruto who was looking up at him shyly like he was afraid of the answer, “Can… can we have ramen for dinner tonight?”

Iruka thought about it for a moment thinking on what they had in the fridge and cupboards before he looked at the pumpkin meat in the bowl and got an idea.

“I think we can and I think I’ll even try out a new recipe if you want to try it.”  At the questioning look Iruka pointed at the bowl, “I can try to make a soup with the pumpkin we have here and use it as a base for the noodles.  What do you think?”

Naruto gave a scrunched up face of consideration for several moments pausing in his carving to give it serious thought.  It was adorable and Iruka wished he had his phone handy to take a picture honestly.

“I guess we can try it.  I’ve never had pumpkin soup before but if you can fix ramen with it, it can’t be that bad.”

“Well then,” Iruka chuckled as they both got back to carving their pumpkins, “We’ll just have to hurry up and finish these and then go see about finding a recipe for it.”

“YEAH!  Mine’s gonna be the best!  See?”

Iruka smiled at the carving Naruto had already had accomplished and nodded along, it was starting to take shape after all so it might actually turn out good by the end.

By the time evening fell on their small home Iruka had a pot of broth simmering while he chopped up vegetables before handing them to Naruto to put in.  The kitchen was filled with the scent of warm pumpkin spice and toasted seeds.  On the counter top sitting away from anything important sat two Jack-o-lanterns one carved with a simple scary face and the other a fierce looking monster fox glowing softly with candles lit inside glowing softly.

**Author's Note:**

> I did actually find a recipe for Pumpkin Ramen  
> http://rachelschultz.com/2015/03/09/thai-ramen-pumpkin-soup/  
> Might have to try that some day.  
> As for the pumpkin carvings: Iruka's is just a generic creepy Jack-o-lantern face with creepy diamond eyes and jagged toothed mouth. Naruto's though looks like this:  
> https://goo.gl/images/13xGgp  
> Naruto will one day start calling Iruka 'dad' but it's only been a couple weeks so he's still getting used to things.  
> Nothing really more to say.


End file.
